With Christmas celebrations now packed away, fun-loving folks on St. Thomas and St. John headed to western St. Thomas. It was time for the 25th Annual Bordeaux Farmers Rastafari Agriculture and Culture Vegan Food Fair.
Many showed up with reusable shopping bags in search of goods that don’t come around every day. Sen. Carla Joseph walked through Bordeaux Farms Pavilion searching for sugar cane.
For others, like retiree Golda Hermon, it was freshly fried lentil balls. Visitors queued up to about a half dozen vendor booths and stands waiting to place orders for prepared vegan dishes. At one stand, Diann Love filled a lunch order but also took time to describe her other offerings, like homemade aloe vera oil.
In one pavilion corner, Avril Armstrong-Freeman wrapped a cinnamon pastry at a stand filled with snacks and treats.
Did the stand have a name? “Yes,” she said — “TWBD: Thy Will Be Done.”
While next door in the Children’s Pavilion, Maria Stiles led young craft makers through the twists and turns of basket weaving. The spacious activity area first opened as part of the Bordeaux Fair in 2022. “We have been working on it since before the hurricane. Last year was our first year we had our activities here,” Stiles said.
And as the first day of the weekend fair drew towards sunset, Paget Spell Roacher bottled sugar cane juice. Moments before bottling, he fed hand-peeled sugar cane through a roller press.
Once the caps were applied, two couples waiting nearby stepped in, scooped up their fresh juices, and hurried away.
